Photo Galleries

Video Galleries

My name. Your space.

Well, it’s been a long time coming, but we’re up and running now.I hope you enjoy the new look and feel of www.queenrania.jo.

It might have my name on it, but this is your space too. It’s a place where you can contact me directly…give me feedback… post photos… blog back…debate ideas…be part of a global campaign…suggest things for me to do and see…learn more about education…exchange information…and take action on issues we both care about it.

Proof that violent people make poor chess players,
politicians, negotiators and planners.

Start with the fact many violent people are frustrated. Life is tough and it doesn't matter if you are King or Queen or the poorest person in Yemen, Jordan, Europe, Africa, the U.s. - name the place - there isn't a single person on earth who didn't experience anxiety, stress, tough decisions and even if they're well fed, well housed, drive a nice car, those tough moments eat them up inside and they can all - rich or poor - have some very bad days.

As one of my friends says "You only have today, in fact, you only have right now - so you might as well make the best of it and try to be happy no matter what."

Pain is miserable, poverty can be horrific, but one of the worst things in life is when you see someone else suffer and can't do a thing about it.

Yup. Its an interesting fact that really cool people - the folks you enjoy being with - can endure all kinds of pain, poverty, bad days and get through it with a smile, but those "cool people"? Give the a moment where they have to witness pain and hardship in someone else's life and it just tears them apart.

Crazy, eh? But true.

As for socio-paths who have no empathy, sympathy, love or joy, they're miserable 24/7, and most folks don't want to spend a minute with them.

Such is the pack of rats I ran into around Christmas time and throughout the holidays - right up to this day - they're still with me. Its never dull when you have socio-paths who hate everyone around. It keeps you on your toes, gives you plenty of interesting data about how these folks think, live, work and deal with problems (like idiots usually), and at the end of their "visit", wow! Life is grand once they've crawled back under the rock from whence they came. Those sunny days are always something to look forward to, eh?

Here's what happened. I'll leave the "names" of the violent critters out of this, so we can look at this from a cold, scientific perspective and in the end, see if you agree with my theory:

"Violent people make poor chess players"

1. You may recall a little post I submitted here earlier. I learned about a Jewish girl in Israel - Omer Goldman - who refused to enlist in the military and got to spend the next few years in prison. She felt the violence against Palestinians is dead wrong - that's her opinion - and I would say she has both the characteristics of empathy and sympathy, and is a pretty smart and tough cookie. That's just my two cents on Omer.

2. Well, you may recall I built a web site for her: every girl with her convictions has to have something to look forward to when she gets out of prison. Prison is not a kind place and when she gets out, she'll be an outcast, a traitor, probably find it hard to get into college or get a job - who knows how the government and community will continue to punish her. Considering 75% of Israeli's support a two-state solution, we may get lucky and she'll come out a hero, but that's not usually how these things work out.

3. On her site are a few photos and videos of the tragic events playing out in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. I am pretty sure I am not the first person to present any of this material to the public, but felt it appropriate to support her position to remain a peace activist, so on her site you can see some pretty nasty things - and for balance - some pretty heart warming things too, like th Combatants for Peace group, where soliders and fighters from Israel and Palestine have put their weapons down and joined forces in peace: a truly inspirational group indeed.

4. Well there's a bank - that will remain nameless - that some historians suggest has a founder - also nameless - who owns 80% of Israel. I couldn't tell you if anyone on earth owns 80% of Israel or not. I do know at one time this family owned 80% of all British corporations. Lets just leave it at that ... and they do own a large share of this NY Bank.

5. The bank wasn't too happy with the vidoes and photos at Omer's site:

a) First their attorney's sent threatening letters to my co-lo hosting firm - who shut the site down - and with much begging I got it back up in about an hour, but the firm was scared. Bullies tend to do that to people.

b) Then the bank's lawyers and cyber techs went after the Domain Registrar firm - and tried to have the DNS records shut down. That didn't work.

c) So then they they attacked the web site with a Denial of Service attack for about 3 weeks, eliminating the ability of anyone else to view any pages. Eventually that failed, as I kept rerouting their IP packets to dead end pages although it was pretty nasty for awhile.

d) Eventually they dropped a sledge - not sure what it was - on the co-lo fiber optic firm and ka-boom - site off and it wasn't coming back on. Period. "Done. Too much heat pal - take this material elsewhere." That was the message from an AMERICAN FIRM IN LOS ANGELES - and having grown up in that area, I was ashamed of their cowardice and told them so, but hey - I don't speak for their lawyers, even though there was nothing illegal at the site.

6. One page DID show photos extracted from a video - a step-by-step, blow-by-blow sequence of an Israeli Settler (I will leave nameless) hurling a 25 lb rock at a 7 year old girl with crushing results. That little girl - doesn't matter is she's Israeli, Palestinian or Chinese - now has broken bones in her face, nose etc., and for the past 6 months conjunctivitis affecting her eyes that they haven't fixed yet (poverty does bite sometimes) and she's probably going to go blind if not treated soon.

7. Now wait a second. I worked in law offices for 28 years. We assisted hundreds of battered women and abused kids. Its sort of in my heart, soul and blood: what do you think MY reaction is when I see something like that photo sequence (I cried the first time I saw it - but toughened up).

Anyway, take a guess how I might react:

a) Get a gun - shot the mugger. This is a common reaction and I believe has caused a continued cycle of attack and revenge attacks and given the government if Israel an excuse to continue their campaign of war against the Palestinians. Most of us recognize that even if the Palestinians did NOTHING, the government of Israel would STAGE false attacks to keep their EXCUSE alive, but that's another matter altogether.

Anyway, yes - when I was in my violent teenage years - the settler, if he lived in my neighborhood - would be shot. Because East L.A. is a pretty hot place when it comes to violence and revenge strikes, even if I sprinted out my front door while loading my gun, it is unlikely I'd get to that guy first.

But you get a little older, you work for lawyers, and you try to avoid that sort of reaction. Smart chess players don't use guns and bombs.

b) Call a copy and get the mugger busted, tried, convicted and sentenced. This is the normal, civilized, legal process.

Unfortunately, for this to take place, the government must have both the evidence to convict (or at least arrest and INDICT) a criminal, and a WILLINGNESS OR DESIRE to put a stop to such crimes.

Well, the evidence - photo-by-photo - is pretty clear - the face, the hurling of the rock, the witnesses, the girl's face, even a close up shot of the muggers dental work (he was gracious enough to provide that for the camera), so there's no lack of evidence.

....hmmmm....that just leaves the Israeli government's WILLINGNESS AND DESIRE to stop these types of crimes.

In CIVILIZED SOCIETIES you arrest people like that. I am sort of going to go out on a limb now as an old law clerk and suggest that Israel is a third-world country - OR - their police lack the forensic capability to arrest and convict this guy (???) so perhaps they need more U.N. forces there to help out.

c) for CHINA - in China, a place where communities are very tightly knit, the guy might not be arrested, but he'd either repent for what he did and repay the girl and her family, do everything in his power to make things right (and never do that again), or they'd either throw him out or he'd become chop-suey in a short time.

China is kind of cool like that: they understand everyone does really nasty things, but their communities SOMETIMES give people an opportunity to come clean and fix the damage.

Anyway, apparently there is no such civilized community in the West Bank where that mugger lives and this took place.

Onward:

8. So, barring an arrest and conviction, you'd think - hey - at least we can post his face, the photo sequence and video (that's there too) and perhaps SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE in the West Bank will take it upon themselves to reach across religious and cultural lines, help the girl and "fix the mugger", if such a repair is possible.

Nope.

Instead, we have an American Banking Unit attacking the web site, the web master/reporter and doing everything in their power to shut it all down - which they did - for about 24 hours.

A rich bank has plenty of capital to INVESTIGATE the person who built the web site, right?

And a rich bank must have known that person worked for attorneys (and two judges, including a Federal Judge) and had worked with battered women and abused children for over two decades.

What do you tell a battered woman? "GET OUT - GET SAFE - THEN PROSECUTE."

You don't say "Well gee, you better shut up or he's going to beat you more." because a violent husband has already proven he'll beat his wife, often for nothing more than a tuna sandwich with too much mayo.

You tell the girl - GET OUT AND PROSECUTE. Period. That's the drill - drilled into me for decades and something I drilled into the girls we represented (we never lost a case - persistent group we were).

Anyway, so you'd hink these rich, fat cat genius bankers might step back and examine my psychology. What happens when you MUG a guy like me?

a) I cave in?

b) I whip you to the mat - legally - no violence required - until you are howling and then

c) I extract what we call in the legal industry DAMAGES - to try to make things "right again" - as close as they can be considering the circumstances.

Its really doesn't take a rocket scientist to see my past and gauge how I will react if I am bullied while defending a 7 year old girl being assaulted by a 25 lb rock.

10. My PhD sister - a world traveller - is a bit nervous. She asked me "WHY are you defending either the high school student who went to prison - that you have never met - and a 7 year old girl - you have never met - and having your web sites shut down, businesses endure a major hit (its going to take awhile to rebuild 15,000 pages - too bad - call it spring cleaning), and if this NY Bank really gets nasty, they just might put a bullet in you. WHY are you doing this?"

I have to say it may seem pretty stupid, but the moment we back down from legal, peaceful, civilized methods for putting a stop to these kinds of assults, we have all become slaves, women and children in every nation on earth, no matter their government, become assault victims, sex victims - name the crime - and the men who might stand up for them become murder victims.

Basically, at that point the entire planet becomes a third world country.

As a Jehovah Witness once said to me "I would rather die a human being, then live as an animal." and he wasn't talking about external poverty.

Its something inside of you - where you contain the rage - attempt to heal the situation in the smartest way you know how - peacefully, with both courage and conviction and an eye over your shoulder for the sneak coming up behind you - and if you can't or won't help people like this, then as I called my web hosting firm in L.A. (in no uncertain terms) you are a coward - an animal - who deserves to live in a third world slave state prison camp.

Maybe Yankees are just used to being rebels - but I don't think we really have any more rebel blood than 99% of the Palestinans today - so that theory is flawed. Palestinians have plenty of rebel blood.

Maybe Yankees are smarter, more peaceful than Palestinians, but I doubt that too. There are plenty of smart, peaceful Palestinians who are working these things out with plans that involve EMBRACING cultures, rather than continuing the violence. Let us never forget that Americans resorted to violence to complete our Revolutionary War: we didn't use Free Speech to beat the Brisith - we shot them. So I can't say Yankees are more peaceful than palestinians, especially given the number of ongoing needless wars around the world designed and executed by the U.S. government (not with the support of most Americans I might add - most of us hate these wars).

Anyway - bottom line - the rich geniuses at the rich NY bank? What in the heck were they thinking they were going to obtain attacking me? Idiots - they've accelerated their own demise.

You see, one thing undefeated law clerks have to do (to retain an undefeated record) is ensure the opponent goes bankrupt faster than they can recover their losses through new revenue streams. And everyone has enemies - even this rich group - and some of their enemies are pretty big players on the global banking scene.

Enemies LOVE ammunition.

As I told my sister, I've already handed off more than half the "ammo" - tools to wreak corporate havoc and bankruptsty to enemies of these banking baffoons. We are pretty sure they're not that bright anyway, so it won't take much. Heck, the Chinese were able to stick them for billions recently and refused to pay on a billion dollar contract without even so much as a lawsuit. That told me this particular bank isn't as rich and powerful as it used to be.

Idiots.

So - the next time you see a woman or child getting assaulted - get your camera - find someone who was there - get the names of the witnesses - and then find a cop (ok - skip that part if you are in Israel - apparently cops don't arrest child molesters in that nation even with clear photos in hand) - well, find someone, somehwere, who can publish what you saw and make sure to get clear, close up photos.

Here's why:

First - you have to live with yourself. Omer Goldman refused to join the military because she knew it was an oganization committing war crimes every day and she said "I have to live with myself." She is not alone. I love the video (at her site) of the former Captain of the Israeli Air Force explainging this fact: its an ongoing war crime.

Next - you become stronger. Naturally you might react with VIOLENCE (illegal - morally and ethically wrong in a civilized society although some suggest, if executed at the scene in self-defense, there is merit in it). But while I agree you need to get the girl to safety in such a scene (first priority), going back and committing violence is a poor choice for a civilized society, and might not do much to stop the next assault by another person with a similar sociopathic psychology.

A conviction and a ten year sentence for the first mugger just might.

Or, you can become a coward and when the government or a bank or a community bullies you into silence, know that you have become a slave to them. You are an animal. Cowards are animals. I don't recommend that course of action either.

Stand up - do something smart - ONCE PUBLISHED - along with the step-by-step PHOTOGRAPHIC SEQUENCE OF ASSAULT - those photos and videos get embedded in search engines. Even the rich bankers can't extract those and make them go away.

That means for the rest of that person's life, what they did is recorded in human history.

Will it get them thrown in jail? Probably not.

But, its unlikely they'll ever get into political office (although I understand recently the former Prime Minsiters of Israel was convicted of rape - so I could be wrong on that one),

It WILL give the other children in the region - for generations to come - a huge warning flag - SEE THAT CHILD MOLESTER IN THAT PHOTO? RUN.

That by itself is worth publishing their face.

In the meantime, let us all pray for peace in Palestine and Israel. Let us pray that the police who are responsible for arresting people like that DO THEIR JOB, and let us pray that over time, Israel can crawl out of third-world status and join the rest of humanity and prosecute child molestors.

I'd ask what the penalty is in Jordan for a grown man - a stranger - who throws a 25 lb rock at a 7 year old girl and hits her in the face, but I imagine (assuming they made it to jail), the Judge would be not kind to the man who did such a deed to a small child.

Thank the Heaven above that Jordan is an enlightened nation.

Please continue sharing some of that light and lessons on your neighbor to the west and hey - if you can package up some of that wisdom and send it to the bankers in New York, I'd be grateful as well.

Dear Queen Rania,
If you have an opportunity to converse with Ms. Nazanin Ashin d'Jam this week, while she is visiting Jordan with Canada's Defense Minister, I would encourage you to do so. I believe you would find the conversation enjoyable and interesting. :)

I spoke with a friend who just got back from Iran. He was born there, but at a young age, moved to the U.S. - served the military and spent much of his career - a real straight guy - sweet guy - with family and friends back in Iran, as well as his wife who goes there frequently too. She runs medical clinics there as they have many problems due to the sanctions.

The news I received over dinner last night was not good. Their President is not cooperating with their religious clerics - its likely there will be a "changing" of the President (which is considered good by many - I will not judge that - let the Iranians do what they can to fix their govt.) - but sadly, it is well known by some of the scientists there that my friend has spoken with that (ahem) - they have the nukes and that President is keen on flying one to Israel - all within their capability - and especially his if he isn't cooperating with his "religious counselors".

So...on the global scene today we have the back and forth drama with North Korea - and now this bit of news - very sad.

Whether you are Muslim, Jew, Christian or Atheist, and support the concept (reality) of Israel or not - or the policies of the Israeli govt against the Palestinian people (which many in Israel's own army consider to be war crimes - their video interviews certainly speak of that) - the sad fact is that the hatred between nations for whatever reasons - once expanded to include a "nuclear solution" could bring chaos to the middle east - a place already suffering from poverty, drought, a rapidly declining oil production from the Saudi fields (which will impact revenue everywhere in the region), and even the Sea of Galilee - drying up at a geometric pace due to the combined effects of rising populations and increased use by Israel in their attempt to irrigate crops not well suited for such an arid region.

If the other problems were not critical enough, this development - long rumored - and now sort of dropped on my desk - indicates SOMEONE - SOMEWHERE - better get their diplomatic flowers and cookies over to Tehran and cool those jets quick. Humanity has enough problems in 2011 without this sort of nightmare unfolding.

I saw a video once of King Abdullah's logical suggestion of maintaining and even increasing the dialogue between Western Powers and Tehran. If there was ever a time to get those talks moving in earnest, now is the time.

My friend and I also ran around "google maps" along the coastline of Iran - I happen to love islands - and we looked at Kish where Castrol has a refinery - and that used to be quite a resort island when the Shah was in power. Now its not so busy, but certainly if Iran wanted to have a "limited, free trade zone" that didn't threaten their mainland with "contamination by western ideals or behavior", using some place like Kish might be ideal for the sort of hotels and tourist activities - if they so desired - providing some of the incentives to "cooperate and hold a dialogue" in a neutral location. I don't know if there govt. is ready for such a development, but I do believe isolation - whether through western sanctions or their self-inflicted methods, is probably the fastest route to nuclear warfare.

We need to break down walls and insure that governments and people all understand that WE ARE THEM - THEY ARE US - WHEN THEY SUFFER WE ALL SUFFER - and the same is true for all of humanity now. This isn't 1800 anymore. We are all connected in so many ways and have friends in so many lands, just as nations have banned torture (hopefully that trend will continue to improve and our humanity will be the better for it), isn't isolation a form of torture, whether applied to Cuba or Iran?

We have to add new tools to the toolbox of diplomacy, whether its sharing ideas through building joint schools or student exchange programs or even opening borders for immigration exchanges. I don't know the answers, but I know we must accelerate the pace of finding them. We don't have a lot of time before things are going to get far more grave than they are today.

I think that once I saw an interview by Queen Rania where she said she had lost faith in the elders to change the world, and her hopes lay with the younger generations. I know how she feels, having worked in black communities as a white teacher and finding many elders resistant to my presence, while I got along fine with their kids.

But I have also seen even the old who had decades of problems with whites come to embrace me as a brother once they understood I cared about their children like my own. Perhaps if we can all care about the children in all lands, and ACT AND SPEAK AND DO DEEDS to prove our intentions are real, then their elders will lighten up on the load of hatred being hurled around constantly, and we can - in our lifetime - see real progress among ALL nations and an end to these obsolete, failed diplomatic techniques of the past.

Perhaps the first thing the U.S. should do is give them a barge loaded with PCs, books, blankets, building materials and other items - just float it to a port and leave it there.

Perhaps someday Israel will do this with Gaza and the West Bank. I was really inspired with hope by the programs being expanded by the Combatants for Peace that are active in Israel today, where old enemies now laugh and cry together as one.

Please forgive me your highness - a friend told me some of the videos (depicting the treatment of Palestinians) were NOT appropriate for you. While most of them are courageous statements of Israeli citizens taking a stand against the violence - including an inspiring group of Combatants for Peace who have crossed lines and have banded together - former Israeli and Palestinian fighters now brothers (made me cry to watch) - anyway, a few scenes in some videos were pretty obnoxious...I guess I am to apologize for the film makers (or Israeli government) - though I am not quite sure how I could do that.

So I took a second approach and made a more productive site. You see, the courage and inspiration to get this movement going came from a 12th grade high school student who refused to enlist in the Israeli Army. Not only was that rather courageous (they ended up going to jail for quite some time as a result), but their father was the Deputy to the Israeli Security Force - the Mossad. I'd say that was pretty courageous.

So I asked my friend if we could produce something fitting of her courage - with a bit more class than that barbaric page of rough and tumble videos...

...and http://omergoldman.com was the result. I hope you and the people of Jordan, Palestine, Israel - even as far away as Iran - approve and find courage and hope in the people described at that site - the young and the old - the educated and stifled - the living and the martyrs on all sides.

May the lessons humanity has endured over the past 10,000 years bring us all sufficient enlightenment to end the obsolete conflicts that have plagued us all for so long, and need not plague us another day.

By the way, one of the videos has His Majesty, King Abdullah II - apparently he was both an inspiration to many people in the films, and inspired by their works as well. Enjoy.

Naturally if the Queen (through her web master who knows how to reach me easily) doesn't want that page up, it can be removed - or if we don't hear any complaints, it can stay.

The bad news: the attorneys for Goldman Sachs are hot on the trail to shut the page down and site down. Go figure.

The good news: the high-tech Russian Jews my high-tech Muslim friend knows are begging to host it the page and web site in Russia, as are some high-tech folks in Lebanon and even Iran...so if it gets shut down in the U.S, I suppose it may rise from the ashes later.

Hello your majesty, My name is Salam Antoun Afif Hamawi and I am a sixteen year old jordanian girl who is the youngest of five children. I have recently learned that you are an advocate for education and a humanitarian, and I do aspire to be as giving and selfless as you are. My family is currently facing some financial issues, and we need help. We are trying everything we can and we believe that even just getting our story out there will help us.
Two of my sisters are currently attending private colleges on Long Island. Their tuition was recently raised a few thousand dollars and their financial aid was simultaneously lowered a few thousand dollars. I aspire to go to college, but i am afraid that i will not be able to afford it. I am currently enrolled in AP classes in my high school and I have an overall GPA of 91. I have currently been invited to take advantage of several different opportunities. However my family's present financial situation does not allow me to attend. These opportunities include The National Student Leadership Conference and the People to People organization which allows me to build volunteer work and experiences. In order to attend either, i would have to pay about four thousand dollars each. These two opportunities will take place in the summer of 2011, however, their payments are due in January. One of my sisters, who is majoring in Political Science, received an opportunity to intern with the Jordanian Embassy, however it is nearly impossible for her to do so because she would have to pay the high expenses. This opportunity will still be open for her to take until the summer of 2011. Obviously, doors are opening for us to take, but our economic situation does not allow us to follow through with our dreams.
My Mother constantly says that the only reason she brought us to America is to give us a good education and have us take advantage of a wide variety of opportunities. However, my mother's income is very low at the moment, to the point where we are on the verge of losing electricity in the Deli that my mother owns. Not only is the electricity overdue but this is also verified for the rent as well. The landlord of the building has said he will file an Eviction notice if we fail to pay him his rent by the first week of January. The deli is a family business and it is our primary source of income. It is what helped us stay strong after my father's abandonment four years ago. Along with his departure, he placed my family in over $25,000 worth of debt. My house is under foreclosure at the moment, and we feel as though we will end up on the streets of New York. My mother has contacted my elders in Jordan hopping to appeal to them for financial assistance. They are much more capable of spending than we are, but she was shot down and degraded. They accused my mother of lying about our hardships and have not helped us at all. My father has even talked directly to me and straight out said that he can careless if we end up on the streets. It is obvious that contacting my elders has done nothing but tear apart our hopes of aid. But we are positive people and we feel that in this land of opportunity, someone who will hear our story will help us.
Education is our number one goal at the moment. We know that without it we can go nowhere in life and our development will be stagnant. We want to finish our education, however we can not afford to do so if our income cannot cover our expenses. We are loyal people and are very friendly. When we receive money we make sure to pay it back. At this moment we are in dire need of financial assistance, and we will make sure to pay it back however possible. We do not want to jeopardize our education because of economic problems.We know that we will get past this and we will give back to the people who open up their hearts to help us and to others who are in need just like us.
Thank you soo much for reading my story and any help that you can provide my family and my.
Please feel free to contact me via email at hamawi829@yahoo.com or call me at 516-303-5621.

Good afternoon and thank you for giving to me the chnace to be your friend,i would like to join hands with you and to make the difference.i converted to islam 7 years ago,and here in europe we are soo thirsty for a change,i love you and admire you for all what you do,and if i can have your permission i want to take the chance to make the changes that i dream for years.

The Tragic Story of Ayatollah Boroujerdi
(Reprinted from The Riverside Lawyer, June 2009)

It is unfortunate that the western world has such a
negative image of people of the Muslim faith. To most
Americans and Europeans, the notion of Islam embodies an
extreme religion of violence and human rights abuses. Yet
we hear it said that Islam is a religion of peace and that the
Islamic extremists we see in Iran and other nations where
shariah law is enforced do not represent the true Islamic
faith. Many ask, “Where are these peaceful Muslim leaders?
Why do we never hear about them? Do they really exist?”
In fact, they do. One such Islamic leader is Ayatollah Sayed
Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, who today is held captive
in a prison in Yazd in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Ayatollah Boroujerdi is a Shi’a Muslim cleric who sup-
ports freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion in
the Islamic Republic of Iran. He believes that the govern-
ment should not be controlled by religion. Thus, he sup-
ports the separation of government from the dominance
of Islam. Ayatollah Boroujerdi believes that the repressive
government of Iran, which purports to exist under the rules
of Islam, is not true Islam at all. According to Ayatollah
Boroujerdi, true Islam is a religion of tolerance, mercy and
compassion, which is the opposite of the religion of the
government of Iran.

Ayatollah Boroujerdi is the son of Ayatollah Mohammad
Ali Kazemeini Boroujerdi, who died under suspicious cir-
cumstances in an Iranian prison in 2002. His father was
one of the leading religious leaders of Iran in the Pahlavi
government and published over 30 books. He was widely
respected in the western world, as well as in Iran, and he
refused to support Ayatollah Khomeini’s efforts to establish
the Islamic regime in 1979. As a result of his refusal of
support, he was persecuted and imprisoned in an Iranian
prison, where he eventually died.

The younger Ayatollah Boroujerdi became openly criti-
cal of human rights abuses of Iran in 1994. For over a
decade, he spoke to his supporters about the need to peace-
fully promote their views, and he is opposed to violence in
any form. On October 7, 2006, Ayatollah Boroujerdi was
arrested, along with many of his supporters who had gath-
ered at his home. Although no crime had been committed,
witnesses say that they were incarcerated and subjected to
torture in section 209 of Evin Prison.

The government of Iran has not provided any informa-
tion concerning his prosecution and conviction. In a spe-
cial clerical court, without representation by legal counsel,
Ayatollah Boroujerdi was initially sentenced to death, but
due to appeals and international pressure, the sentence was
changed to 11 years of imprisonment, 10 of which are to
be in exile in Yazd. Ayatollah Boroujerdi was then coerced,
under threat of torture, to give a statement in which he
confessed to acts he did not commit. This forced confession
was televised nationally in Iran in an attempt to humiliate
Ayatollah Boroujerdi and others who share his belief in the
free exercise of religion and freedom of speech.

Since his incarceration in the Iranian prison, Ayatollah
Boroujerdi has been brutally tortured, resulting in serious
injury to his vital organs. He has been repeatedly refused
medical treatment by his captors, and his family and sup-
porters have also undergone torture. His wife has been
brought into his prison cell and forcibly raped in his pres-
ence. He and his family have been victims of incomprehen-
sible cruelty at the hands of this tyrannical regime.
Ayatollah Boroujerdi has committed no crime. He is
a peaceful man who does not advocate violence, nor does
he threaten the government of Iran in any way, though
he supports the separation of religion from government.
All he has done is to advocate for the inalienable right
of the individual to hold personal religious beliefs and to
exercise freedom of speech. For this, he has been subjected
to imprisonment and torture under continuous threat of
execution.

Article 56 of the United Nations Charter requires that
all member nations pledge to “take joint and separate
action in cooperation with the Organization [the UN] for
the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55.”
Article 55 includes several paragraphs, most notably here,
“universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and
fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race,
sex, language or religion.”

Article 18, section 1 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights provides that:
“1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion. This right shall
include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or
belief of his choice, and freedom, either individu-
ally or in community with others and in public or
private, to manifest his religion or belief in wor-
ship, observance, practice and teaching.”
Article 19, sections 1 and 2 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that:
“1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions
without interference.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of
expression; this right shall include freedom to
seek, receive and impart informa-
tion and ideas of all kinds, regard-
less of frontiers, either orally, in
writing or in print, in the form of
art, or through any other media of
his choice.”

Article 7 of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights provides in
pertinent part: “No one shall be subjected to
torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment.”

Ayatollah Boroujerdi has been denied his
rights under each of the above-referenced
articles and sections of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He
has been arrested, held in confinement and
tortured because of his beliefs and for express-
ing his views on political matters.
On September 24, 2007, Iran’s President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke in the
United States at Columbia University. In
response to the introduction from Columbia
University President Lee Bollinger, President
Ahmadinejad said the following:
“I think the text read by the dear gentle-
man here, more than addressing me, was an
insult to information and the knowledge of
the audience here, present here. In a univer-
sity environment we must allow people to
speak their mind, to allow everyone to talk so
that the truth is eventually revealed by all.”
“Certainly he took more than all the time
I was allocated to speak, and that’s fine with
me. We’ll just leave that to add up with the
claims of respect for freedom and the freedom
of speech that’s given to us in this country.”
In his words, which have been commu-
nicated to billions of people throughout the
world, President Ahmadinejad expressed his
belief in freedom of speech and the right of
people to “speak their mind.” Yet within the
nation of Iran, people are arrested and tor-
tured for “speaking their mind.”
Now the world is watching to see if Iran
will live up to the high standard set by these
words of President Ahmadinejad. Will Iran
release Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni
Boroujerdi, who has done nothing more than
exercise his right to “speak his mind,” as
President Ahmadinejad said, so that “truth is
eventually revealed by all”?

The United Nations has been requested to investigate this case and to assure that Ayatollah Boroujerdi is provided needed medical attention. If we join efforts to support the release of Ayatollah Boroujerdi, the leaders of Iran will take note. While it may seem a futile effort, it is important to bear in mind that Iran seeks to become a member of the international community. The embarrassment brought about by these abuses when
publicized will ultimately compel the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran to release this honorable man and his supporters.

D.W. Duke is a California attorney, a writer and a human rights activist. He is also President of International Children’s Aid and legal counsel to Stop Child Executions, which are organizations devoted to securing the inalienable rights of children and
others throughout the world in nations where human rights abuses occur.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam is a recording artist, human rights advocate and actor. Born in Iran in 1979 during the height of the Islamic Revolution, she fled the country with her family to escape the execution of her father, and they eventually migrated to Canada. Although she is a graduate of the University of British
Columbia, many know Afshin-Jam best as Miss Canada 2003 and first Runner Up Miss World of the same year, and also as the person who led the campaign to free Nazanin Fatehi, a 17-year-old sentenced to death in Iran for defending her niece from three rapists. Afshin-Jam is President of Stop Child Executions and works tirelessly to secure human rights throughout the world. She is working with D.W. Duke and the United Nations to secure the release of Ayatollah Boroujerdi.

Salam MADAM
I dont know why i m writing but IT is my Inner Feelings that this is the time that This Language Holy language ARABIC is now a days loosing its expansion . There is a need of hour to increase the language in other countries. Means propagation of the language can be done as the other arab countries are not taking care of this ....
Secondly, In the Arabic language the scientific books are very scanty So please take this a serous note ...
thanks for giving me an opportunity
how u can make this possible like other arabs are going there for higher education on the behalf of government scholarship not by virtues of their own as Asians do. This make them inefficient and more lazy after coming back. the level is to be increased not by the fellowships but by improving the competition among themeselves. so that only those who are competent will go outside. To overcome this sitiuations it is the right time to open more high quality education centres and industries having job makin the country self dependent. not on these non muslims countries.
Kindly make the Educations system moretransparent and competetiveness culture. " let the students - make - Survival of the Best" chose the right technical courses and encourage them.
thanks